Wislawa, the first recording of the freshly formed Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet, is welcomed by reviewers in England and Germany

A dream-ticket jazz meeting between a cutting-edge European legend, and an equally honed triumvirate of pioneering New York-based youth. Miles Davis-inspired Polish trumpeter Stanko has been a jazz hero in Europe since the 1960s; advanced Cuban pianist David Virelles is a partner of the musically demanding Steve Coleman; and bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver embody a two-man summary of the 21st-century jazz rhythm section. The trumpeter has dedicated this double album to the late Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, and two versions of the meditative title track, or a quietly ecstatic rhapsody such as April Story, typify the Stanko many listeners will recognise, with his gruff, tone-bending phrasing and melancholy tenderness. But no New York rhythm section is likely to camp for ever in Stanko's brooding landscapes, and the trumpeter is driven to improv squeals, warbles and crisp post-bop lines on uptempo burnups such as Assassins. There are echoes of the 1960s Miles acoustic quintet in the time-stretching Mikrokosmos and the impatiently surging Faces; the brushes-swung, bass-walking Oni is a masterly trumpet-improv balance of poised long runs and richly nuanced short figures. Virelles, Morgan and Cleaver are very seductive listening on their own, and the 70-year-old leader sounds in great fettle, fast or slow.John Fordham, The Guardian

Recorded in June not long after a brief tour in Europe the theme of the album ties in with the poetry of the great Wislawa Szymborska, hence its title: Wislawa. Stanko performed with the Nobel laureate late in her life, and a number of the album’s compositions are inspired directly by her work. And they are sublime, particularly the title track ballad and ‘Mikrokosmos’. Stanko can stop you dead in your tracks with the honesty and emotion of his playing, the blues connotation, and the sheer abstraction of it all. Wislawa is this and much more, his best album since Leosia and a potent reminder of the artistry of the man. Stephen Graham, Marlbank

Taking his inspiration from Homer’s The Odyssey the saxophonist has come up with eight imaginative themes that have his personal stamp all over them, songlike and robust enough to withstand some pretty tough examination from his colleagues, a prime example being the albums opener, Wine Dark Sea.
Potter’s soprano is to the fore on romantic ‘Penelope’, and the gentle ‘Nausikaa’ while the title track, ‘The Sirens’ features bass clarinet coupled with Grenadier’s full toned arco bass before giving way to the impassioned cries of the tenor. And this is where the real drama unfolds, as Potter in full cry is full of invention; His tone moving from warm and tender to daring forays into the upper register. The wonderful ‘Kalypso’ courteously offers an acknowledgement to Sonny Rollins, but throughout the tenorist is very much his own man. Mention should be given the stellar band assembled for the session, with the two keyboards of Craig Taborn and David Virelles blending seamlessly to create the colours inherent in the compositions, and Harland and Grenadier a propulsive and responsive team. Another impressive album from Chris Potter, and one that indicates a new and fruitful path for future exploration.Nick Lea, Jazz Views

Marlbank's reviewer Stephen Graham is impressed by Hagar's Song, the new duo recording by Charles Lloyd and Jason Moran

Lloyd, a deeply serious spiritual artist with a great communicator’s ability, is able to paint pictures like few others in jazz. Via flute on ‘Journey Up River’, the first part of the ‘Hagar Suite’, he provides with pianist Moran’s tumbling accompaniment (and later tambourine) an episodic element not often found in his general approach, a feature throughout the suite that provides a distinctive thread to this album. Turning 75 this year it’s interesting that Lloyd has chosen with this new studio album, recorded last April, to reduce his quartet to a duo, its simplicity via the time machine of piano styles that Moran provides, in the fictive sense invoking a line in jazz piano almost taking the listener, say on Moran’s introduction to ‘Mood Indigo’, to Harlem in the 1930s. Lloyd is very bluesy on some tracks, but he’s capable of altering the mood throughout and the blues become a miniature requiem on one notable standout ‘I Shall Be Released’, a tribute to Levon Helm of The Band. [...] So all in all a very personal, wonderful sounding album, full of lovely moments, an oasis of contemplation in a world full of tumult, and every bit as good as the marvellous Mirror.Stephen Graham, Marlbank

The box set containing four albums by Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition is reviewed in Austrian magazine Concerto